A Match Made in Diagon Alley
by Cordelia Ravenwood
Summary: Just a short oneshot on how Draco and Astoria met after Hogwarts and began a relationship. Rated T for some very mild language. Please read and review. Dedicated to Strange Jade.


**A/N: A short oneshot about how Draco and Astoria met and began their relationship. Dedicated to my dear friend and fabulous beta, Strange Jade! This was written as a Christmas present for said awesome friend. Hope you all like it. Please review! **

Draco Malfoy stormed down the crowded streets of Diagon Alley in a blind fury, his boots clunking loudly against the cobbled streets. His face was red with anger; his brow was creased into a well defined scowl, and his mouth was twisted into an evil grimace. From what he had seen who could blame him? He still couldn't believe what he'd walked in on. He was still waiting to wake up from this twisted mess of a nightmare but as he stomped and the seconds ticked by he realized that there was no waking up. What had happened was reality.

The events of just a few short hours ago were playing over and over again in his mind, each passing thought making him angrier and angrier. He had just finished yet another long and arduous night of Auror training and was making his way to the flat he shared with his long time girlfriend, Pansy Parkinson. At first as he entered the house all seemed normal. He shrugged out of his cloak, throwing it onto the couch and was about to grab a granny smith apple (his favorite fruit) to eat when he heard something. A very peculiar noise came from their room and, curiosity getting the better of him, Draco decided to investigate. He quietly stepped down the long hallway towards his room. His hands were damp with sweat as he nervously opened the door to find his girlfriend in bed with… Blaise! He did a double take to make sure what he saw was really there, hoping to Merlin, God, and every other higher power out there that it wasn't. He closed his eyes willing it to go away but when he opened his eyes there was his girlfriend in a rather compromising position with his best friend. "What the hell's going on here!" he'd shrieked at them. Pansy screamed as she realized they weren't alone. Draco looked his now ex-girlfriend straight in the eye as she tried to stammer out some flimsy excuse as to why she was caught in bed with another man. She avoided his intense stare the entire time and eventually Draco grew tired of her stupid excuses. She was sleeping with Blaise and as he listened he found this was not just a onetime thing. That was the last straw. Without a parting glance he stormed out of their flat in Diagon Alley and started walking. He hadn't even known where he was going he just needed to get away.

"How could she?" he muttered to himself, "and with my best friend no less! Merlin, that, that _slut!_" He didn't slow his pace as he stormed past shop after shop eventually ending up at the front of Flourish and Blott's. He was going to keep walking when… WHAM! He slammed right into a small solid form. Suddenly he and the thing he'd bumped into accompanied with several papers and books were all on the ground.

"Oh I'm so sorry," a small female voice said to him.

"Not at all, it was completely my –," he said glancing up just in time to lock eyes with the most beautiful blue eyes he had ever seen. His breath caught in his throat, "my fault," he finished, his throat growing dry. The owner of these beautiful eyes that had seemed to captivate him was none other than Astoria Greengrass.

For a while he just sat there and stared captivated by her beauty, a beauty he had just noticed even though he had known her for several years. There was no denying it though, she was utterly breath taking. Everything from her short wavy brown hair, to her smooth white skin, to her eyes, her eyes especially, like deep pools of blue that help so much life and seemed to go on forever, it was all perfect. It was all Astoria. How had he not noticed this before? He snapped out of his stupor to help her pick up the books scattered all over the street.

"Here let me help you with that," he said finding his voice.

"Oh thanks," she said looking up at him, recognition donning her face. "Oh Draco!" she said pleasantly. "Fancy meeting you here."

He smiled handing her his books. "Yeah it sure is. So what brings you here to Flourish and Blott's?" he asked.

"Oh I work here. What about yourself? You seemed to be in an awful hurry. I don't want to keep you if you need to go."

"No, I'm just –" he stopped, remembering why he was here in the first place. "I'm just er, blowing off some steam I guess."

"Aw, did something happen?" Astoria asked, her brow creasing a little.

"Nothing too big," he said trying to redirect the conversation. "Just a little trouble between me and Pansy."

Astoria had heard they were dating. Being a friend and having an insatiable curiosity she asked, "Really? What happened?"

"It's er, kind of a long story."

"I've got time," she said, with a tilted grin, her Ravenclaw wit coming out.

"You seem to be busy," Draco stammered, "I don't want to keep you."

"Actually, this is my day off. I was just dropping off some books. Let me put these books back and why don't we go over to the Leaky to catch up? I haven't talked to you in forever anyways." She walked back into the shop and returned moments later and they strolled down to the pub. "So why don't you tell me what happened between you and Pansy?" she inquired.

Draco was having a hard time figuring that out himself. "I er, caught her in bed with… someone."

"Really?" she said, shocked. "Do you know who it was?"

"Um, yeah," he said, "quite well, actually."

"Well who was it."

He cleared his throat, which had grown tight suddenly. "It was… um… Blaise," he finally croaked out.

She just stared for a second, seemingly lost in her own thoughts. "That's crazy," she finally said. "Frankly I'm not surprised. Pansy always did like to fool around, a real party girl that one and we always did talk about how that Blaise was a handsome one." Draco felt jealousy rise inside him at that statement. "I wouldn't go for him though," she added. He felt slightly comforted by that statement. "Frankly, I prefer blonds," she said as a passing remark as she went to the bar to order some drinks. She returned to their table with two butterbeers and they continued their catching up.

"You know I truly am sorry," she said sitting down, giving him a hug from across the table. "Are you alright? I've been cheated on before and it's not fun. How are you holding up?"

"I think I'm fine. I never really liked Pansy all that much just our parents were hell bent on getting us together I just sort of went with it. Now that this has happened it gives me a good reason not to marry the night-troll. And if I might add, I can't imagine anyone cheating on you. Anyone who did must be a complete idiot."

Astoria smiled at this. She always had fancied Draco for his dashing good looks and they had talked a bit as he had known her sister, Daphne but never had they had a real in depth conversation. Now that she had talked to him for a while she was realizing he was very sweet and rather funny.

They spent the rest of the day drinking and chatting about each other, how their lives were, how they were doing, what they were doing. They talked about Draco and his Auror training and of Astoria and her new job at Flourish and Blott's. They talked about everything it seemed and for that entire day, Draco didn't think of Pansy once and it was bliss. He'd just discovered what he was missing out on. Astoria was beautiful, bright, funny, fun to be around, and just full of life whereas Pansy was not ugly but in no sense was she pretty either. She was a plain, flat, dull, two-faced, whorish, little slut who only wanted to be with Draco if it meant a couple of good times in the sack and even then she would sleep around with other men as well. She only cared for one person and one person alone and that was herself. Astoria on the other hand was kind, sweet, witty and actually cared for Draco's feelings. There was no question. Astoria was better than Pansy in every way imaginable and Draco had been a fool for not noticing this sooner.

He voiced this very thought as they walked down the street. "I've been a fool for not noticing how beautiful you are for so long," he said.

She blushed at this. "Why thank you Draco. I've always thought you rather handsome as well," she said with a smile. Even Astoria's faults were perfect to Draco. Her smile was crooked; she had freckles smattered across her thin nose, her feet were big and Draco realized he didn't care about any of that. She was beautiful just the way she was and for the first time in his life, Draco knew what love was. Love wasn't something arranged by your parents, love was something that happened accidentally at the most unexpected times. Love meant loving everything they are and everything they're not and that was what he felt with Astoria. He, Draco Abraxas Malfoy was falling in love with Astoria Jade Greengrass. Little did he know, Astoria was feeling the exact same feelings as she slipped her hand silently into his and they strolled down the street to her flat. They stood outside her flat at the bottom of the stairs.

"Thank you," he said. "I'm not sure what I'd have done if I hadn't run into you. I would've driven myself insane thinking about that slut."

"Are you sure you're okay going back over there?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. She's probably gone by now. I told her to get her sleazy ass out of there," he said with a confident grin.

She smiled at him, glad he was okay. "I see the old Draco's back. I'm glad. I like this Draco much better than the broody one I ran into today," she said with a kiss. They both blushed and she turned to go up the stairs and Draco started to make his way home, pausing one last time to watch her walking up the stairs. As he watched her he knew this was the start of something different and Draco liked it.


End file.
